Brewer: 'Victory' on border surge

Arizona Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, known for her state’s tough immigration laws, is praising the Senate’s immigration compromise on border security, saying it’s a “victory” for her state.

“I really, really am claiming victory for Arizona in regards to the border surge. I was writing to the federal government and to Sen. Schumer way back in June of 2010 in regards to the border surge that we needed to see completed before we move forward,” Brewer said in an interview on Fox News Channel on Monday. “So today, hopefully that will get out of the Senate and we can see that they are going to move forward, so I’m very pleased about that.”

Story Continued Below

Brewer said she wasn’t worried necessarily about the size of the bill, but she hopes that lawmakers read it all the way through.

“This is a big issue so it probably needs a big bill, but … in the past we haven’t had a lot of good reason to believe that they read those great big bills, so someone better be going through it with a fine-tooth comb and do it right this time,” Brewer said.

Saying that she’s in touch with Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake and Rep. Matt Salmon, Brewer said her main concern is whether the border actually is under operational control before anything else gets passed. That decision should come from people on the ground, she said.

“When they say that it’s under operational control, our law enforcement, the border governors, people that are living it every day, day in and day out, they’re the ones that should be able to call and say, this time the border is under operational control, because we are the recipients of all the bad that takes place with the border being open,” Brewer said.